After Mont Blanc, burns centre on the cards in Mumbai

Last week’s fire at a high-rise at Kemps Corner has spurred the city’s municipality to plan setting up a centre for burns in the city. The proposed centre will be like the National Burns Centre in Airoli, Navi Mumbai.

Additional municipal commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, Manisha Mhaiskar, said, “The Airoli burns centre is one of its kind in the country. We plan to bring this concept to reality in Mumbai. For this, we have invited Dr Sunil Keswani of the National Burns Centre to seek guidance.”

While the modalities are still being worked out, sources in the municipality said that plans are afoot to set up this centre on the campus of the civic-run RN Cooper Hospital at Vile Parle. “The plan is to have a burns centre with 25 beds for which inputs will be sought from experts specialising in burns treatment,” said this source.

Dr Keswani refused to comment on the civic body’s plan, saying everything is still in the initial stages.

A senior plastic surgeon from Bombay hospital, Dr Ashok Gupta, has welcomed the move to set up a burns centre in the city. “We don’t have a dedicated burns unit nor do we have an intensive care unit for burns,” said Dr Gupta. “Presently, at any given point of time, at least 25 patients are admitted to city hospitals with major burns. Although we have specialists to treat such patients, the infrastructure is a bit scattered,” said Dr Gupta.

Meanwhile, two of five firemen injured in the Kemps Corner blaze have been operated upon at the Airoli Burns Centre and their condition is improving, said Dr Keswani.